In recent years, the education community has regarded "spare the rod, spoil the child" as an ignorant and outdated educational method. Punishment and scolding seem to be useless here. However, the wisdom accumulated by ancient people over thousands of years cannot be easily overturned by a few decades of ideological reform. Here we will not talk about educating children, but only about educating dogs. Punishment and scolding actually remain the most effective way to educate your dog baby.

　　The theoretical basis of punishment and scolding education

　　The theoretical basis of punishment and scolding education is a method advocated by the behaviorist school represented by Watson, which educates through reinforcement stimuli. For dogs, good behavior is rewarded, which is positive reinforcement; bad behavior is punished, which is negative reinforcement. Punishment and scolding are the most basic and direct types of negative reinforcement stimuli. Therefore, the theory of "spare the rod, spoil the dog" has its reasonable basis.

　　This kind of punishment and scolding is not the same as others

　　Punishment and scolding are not abuse nor venting anger. If you, as an intelligent and emotional person, go angry or sulk with a dog, then the fault is not on the dog. The reason for choosing punishment and scolding as a method to educate dogs is that, so far, it is still the best discipline method, and there is no other way. Hitting or scolding is a targeted punishment when the dog makes a mistake, aiming at correction and education, not the owner venting anger on it. If you cannot distinguish the priority, then it turns into arbitrary abuse.

　　Control the strength of punishment and scolding

　　After all, dogs are highly intelligent pets, and behavioral reinforcement education should better grasp the degree. If the force is insufficient, it will not correct their wrong behavior. If too strong, it often backfires, causing the relationship between the dog and owner to become rigid. Besides, the strength of punishment and scolding should be well controlled. If hitting causes injury to the dog, then it becomes animal abuse! Therefore, punishment and scolding should be limited, but the dog must know its fault and ensure an attitude of admitting mistakes.

　　Punishment and scolding also need to be timely

　　Punishment and scolding are means to educate dogs, with the purpose of warning them what is right and wrong. Based on this purpose, when using punishment and scolding to educate dogs, the timing must be right. It must be done promptly after the mistake. For example, if a dog bites furniture secretly while the owner is away, upon discovery, the dog should be brought before the damaged furniture for criticism and education. If the owner acts impulsively and punishes the dog physically for events that happened days ago, it will confuse the dog and only produce the opposite effect.

　　Punishment and scolding are not the best education methods

　　Although educating dogs through punishment and scolding is very effective, it is not the only way. Nowadays, many things emphasize gentleness and harmony, and such the simplest and roughest ways appear somewhat unintelligent. Many dogs can reach the intelligence level of infants, so when facing a dog that makes mistakes, using some clever methods, they can understand clearly. With the popularization of dog training techniques, some soft punishment methods have gradually become popular: criticism, cold treatment, confinement, etc., which not only protect the dog from physical hurt but often have unexpected good effects. (Source: PetsZone)